Snowplow



Dec. 13, 1932. F. GET'EE-LIMANZ sNowPLow Filed Sept. 24, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR EMMA fi Q/ M ATTORNEYS Dec, 13} 1932- F. GETTELMAN SNOWPLOW Filed Sept. 24, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 13, 1932 sea'rea'r OFFICE FREDRICK GETTELMAN, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN SNOWPLOW Application filed September 24, 1928.

This invention relates to improvements in snowplows.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an effective wedge type snowplow which may be pushed by a motor truck or a similar vehicle with a minimum expenditure of power.

I have discovered that a properly designed wedge type plow will remove snow from a 0 road without packing the snow. I have, therefore, provided a wedge type plow which performs a shearing action, rather than a cutting action, which does not lift the snow bodily but breaks dry snows into particles and hurls them laterally of the road, and rolls wet snow from the blades of the plow in tubular fragments.

I have also provided a wedge type plow which defines a definite line of cleavage in the snow just before it is hurled or rolled laterally to each side of the road. In this manner less energy is required to operate my improved wedge type plow than is required by like snowplows heretofore provided.

It is an object of this invention to providefor wedge type plows, blades composed of sheet metal which in operating in wet snow will in some degree vibrate and thereby cause snow that may have frozen on the blades to crack 01f.

Another object is to provide a mounting for the plow which will permit it to yield to irregularities in the road surfaces. 7

A further object is to provide a plow point which will not tend to di g into the roadway when the outer edges may have been raised in clearing an obstruction.

In the drawings: v j Figure 1 is a plan view of a plow embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of the device as shown attached to a motor truck;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the same;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line l4 of Figure 1.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views. 7

The mechanism for attaching the plow to Serial No. 307,815.

a vehicle comprises substantially the same mechanism as disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 158,537, filed January 3, 1927, for snowplows. This mechanism includes tubular arms 5 and 6 each provided at 7 with clamps engageable with a vehicle axle (or other convenient part of a truck, tractor, or other suitable vehicle for propelling the plow). The arms 5 and 6 are connected by a cross brace 8 and diagonal braces 9 and 10. Rings 11 are adapted to receive chains 12 leading to a suitable Windlass 13 on the front of a vehicle 14. The clamps 7 may be secured to the axle 15 of the vehicle. When it is desired to transport the plow assembly, it may be lifted from the road by means of the Windlass and chains.

The plow is connected with the arms, previously described, by means of the arm extensions 16 and 17 which are disposed within the tubular arms 5 and 6 and are adjustable therein to suit the requirements of the plow and ape secured in the desired position by the pins 8. V

The plow comprises blades 20, 21 secured together at an angle relative to each other and having at the apex of the plow an armate plate 23 which serves to cut the snow in advance of the plow apex and thus define a line of cleavage along which the plow may advance. This plate also serves to prevent the plow point from digging into the road bed when the outer margins are raised as will be subsequently described.

The blades 20, 20' each comprise simply a single piece of sheet iron or steel of the requisite length and height. The major portions of these blades are not re-enforced and are provided only at widely spaced positions near the ends of the blades, with angle iron members 21 which serve to maintain the forward curvature as indicated. Members 21 extend from the top of the blades to almost the lower margins thereof.

The lower portions of the members are tangential with reference to the curvature of the blades, and the lower edges of the blades are spaced from the angle members 21 by means of the angle brackets 22, 24, the former being secured to the angle members 21 and the latter being secured to the blades 20, 20. A wear plate is secured to the forward surface of each blade in position to project below the lower margin thereof. Bolts 26 which hold the wear plate in place may be extended through the bracket 2%. lVhere the angle members conform to the curvature of glge blades, they are secured thereto by rivets The entire plow is hingedly connected with the frame assembly previously described by means of the pintle bar 30 upon each end of which a sleeve 31 is rotatably mounted which sleeves in turn are pivotally connected on vertical axes 32 with their respective extensions 16 and 17 of the frame. The pintle bar 30 has secured at its ends brackets 29 which are secured to respective angle members 21.

A limited degree of hinged movement about the horizontal axis of the pintle bar 30 is permitted to the plow to enable the outer ends to clear bumps or rough spots in the highway which is being freed of snow. A stop plate 35 is fastened to the inner side of each arm extension 16 and 17 and is provided with stop surfaces 36 and 37. Powerful tension springs 38 are connected at 10 with the members 21 and the truck or hoist. Powerful tension springs 38 are connected at 40 with the members 21 and the tubular arms 5 and 6. The springs normally hold the plow in the position indicated and in which it is positioned in abutting relation to the stop surfaces 36 of the stops 35. If a bump is encountered the outer ends of the plow can readily rise and tilt the plow relative to the frame and against the tension of springs 38 and 38 until it encounters the stop surfaces 37. The forward end of the plow will, when the plow is tilted, ride upon the arcuate margin of the arcuate plate 23. As soon as the obstacle has been passed the tension springs will immediately draw the plow to its normal position relative to the frame. If the forward end of the plow should encounter an obstruction, the arcuate plate would carry the plow over the obstruction by causing it to rise bodily about the connection of the frame with the vehicle axle 15.

The angularity of the plow blades with reference to the road surface is particularly noteworthy. t will be noted that the lower margin of the blades and the wear plates 25 applied thereto are almost at right angles to the highway surface. This is a radical departure from such plow blades as have heretofore been used for snow removal purposes and in which in actual practice. the effort has been to make the blades scoop the snow from the road and lift it to a point on the blade where it can be delivered laterally at an elevation to clear the adjacent level of snow.

It will be noted further that not only are the wear plates almost vertical but the chords of the blades are given a very considerable forward inclination. By the chord I mean a line which connects the lower or scraping margin of a wear plate with the upper margin of a blade upon which the plate is secured. I have found that with a blade designed and mounted as herein indicated, the snow does not rise in a compact mass but tends, if at all dry, to disintegrate and to rise upwardly and forwardly along the curvilinear inclined surface of the blade in the form of light, fluffy and more or less independent particles which are delivered from the plow as if sup ported on an air stream. They move from the upper edges of the plow blades in a relatively thin sheet, regardless of the thickness of the deposit of snow in which the plow 18 operating.

If the snow is more compact and wet it will not become disintegrated but it will be delivered from the blade in the form of a curvilinear sheet which in many instances actual- 1y curves downwardly into contact with the ground and is formed into a tubular roll without breaking. \Vhen the snow is in this condition there may be continuously formed tubular rolls which are delivered laterally of the plow due to the angular inclination of the blades with reference to the direction of any other snow removal apparatus witlr which I am familiar.

In no instance does this plow become clogged when used in wet snow or slush. As previously explained, there is sufficient vibration in the unsupported area of the plow blades so that any material tending to adhere thereto is cracked off.

I claim:

1. The combination with a guiding frame, v

of a wedge type plow pivoted thereto for oscillation about a transverse axis, stops on said frame defining the extent of oscillation of said plow in either direction of oscillation about said axis, and means yieldably maintaining said plow against certain of said stops, said plow being yieldable from said steps toward a position in which its outer ends will be elevated with reference to the road.

2. The combination with a guide frame, of a wedge type plow pivoted thereto for oscillation about a transverse axis, stops on said frame defining the extent of oscillation of said plow in either direction of oscillation about said axis, means yieldably maintaining said frame defining the extent of oscillation of said plow in either direction of oscillation about said axis, means yieldably maintaining said plow against certain of said stops, said plow being yieldable from said stops toward a position in which its outer ends will be elevated with reference to the road, and a plate extending forwardly from the apex of said plow and having an arcuate forward margin extending from the lower margin of said apex.

4. A wedge type plow comprising the combination with a pair of upright blades eonverging forwardly to an apex and having their lower margins disposed at a scraping angle to the surface traversed thereby, whereby an obstruction encountered by such margins will tend to cause the blades to tilt forwardly in the direction of their travel, of means providing a pivotal mounting about which said blades are unitarily tiltable in a forward direction to clear obstructions encountered by their margins, and a runner curving upwardly and forwardly from the bottom apex of the blades and adapted to receive the weight of the plow upon occasions when it tilts forwardly whereby to prevent the apex from digging into the road surface upon such occasions.

5. A wedge type plow comprising the combination of a pair of angularly related upright blades having concave forward faces and forwardly inclined chords whereby the lower margins of said blades are disposed in scraping relation to the road surface traversed thereby, a runner and division plate interposed between the ends of said blades and abutted by each, said plate having a convex forward margin terminating substantially at the lower margins of the respective plates and extending upwardly and forwardly therefrom, and frame means pivotally connected with said blades upon a transverse axis intermediate the ends of said blades, said blades being mounted to tilt forwardly onto said runner plate when either of their respective margins encounters road surface obstruction.

6. In a wedge type plow, the combination with a pivotal mounting, of a plow structure forwardly tiltable upon said mounting, and means for yieldably maintaining said plow structure normally upright in operative position, said plow structure comprising a pair of angularly related plow blades each having a concave curvature in its forward face and extending upwardly and forwardly from its lower margin, and a plate interposed between said blades and abutted by the end of each, said plate having a convex forward margin comprising a runner surface extending from the bottom edge of said blades forwardly and upwardly to the top edge thereof, whereby to support the apex of said plow from the road surface in all tilted positions of the plow and also to constitute a partition between the snow receiving concave portions of the respective blades.

FREDRICK GETTELMAN. 

